


Alla Prima

by WET_NOODLES



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Absolutely fucking disgustingly fluffy, F/F, Rated for light innuendo, Very very close galpals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 06:19:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7033141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WET_NOODLES/pseuds/WET_NOODLES
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagero offers to paint Orochi's portrait. Things go a little off-track.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alla Prima

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tattedmariposa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattedmariposa/gifts).



> The prompt from the ask meme: "Nobody needs to know," which only tangentially figures into the actual story (SPOILERS AHHH!)

She remembered a time when the smell of soot and comfrey would scorch her nostrils and the abacus beads would blur into a jagged array, until her seasons as court diviner steadied her hand and steeled her mind.

Orochi dipped her brush into the inkstone, and paused to glance up at Kagero crouched on her perch like a hawk. From her vantage Orochi could only read the furrows in Kagero’s brows, half-hidden behind the board-mounted scroll, but she could picture in vivid detail the tip of Kagero’s brush carving the hollow of her throat like a shuriken’s blade. She would catch Kagero’s penetrating gaze, ravenous and studious all at once, and return, coquettishly, to her half-inked calendar, in hopes Kagero would somehow catch the intimation.

Orochi had long grown accustomed to these comfortable silences, but after two hours of painting and calendar-making, impatience ruled the day.

“Kagero!” Louder than she needed to be, she relished the feel of the name on her tongue, even more than she relished the opportunity to catch the ninja off-guard. “How much longer do you think it’ll be? I’m anxious to see it.”

With impeccable poise as always, Kagero recovered her composure. She peered over the scroll to quirk a good-humored brow.

“Patience, friend. Portraiture is a time-consuming endeavor.”

“I know, I know! I guess I’m just always this eager to see new art from you.”

She checked for the blush that was sure to provoke, and deflated a little to find that Kagero had ducked her head behind the scroll entirely.

“And I’m also excited to see how you figure me,” she pressed. “Like seeing Orochi through Kagero’s eyes. Would you begrudge me for a little impatience, hm?”

“I suppose not.”

Orochi pouted, then set her brush down.

“I hope I’m not ruining anything by stretching my legs.” She pushed herself off the floor, linking her hands behind her back and luxuriating in their looseness, before sauntering over to Kagero’s side to inspect her work. “Oh, my!”

Kagero grimaced and turned her face away. There Orochi lay on her side, every curl of her musculature expressed in thick black ink; her nails pinned the calendar in place like flexing, painted talons, the brush she brandished an assassin’s kunai. Upon her work she set with the fierceness and ardor of a diviner in battle, while unseen entities amassed around her baneful aura.

“The spirits are my own personal embellishment,” mumbled Kagero, hiding her face behind her hair.

“I look _gorgeous_!”

Kagero took her moment to process this, before returning her a secretive smile.

“That’s because you are,” she said, and Orochi herself couldn’t tell whether she’d meant to grant her that opening.

“You stop that! Orochi is well-acquainted with your beguiling kunoichi ways—”

“It’s nothing less than the truth.”

“—keep it up and she’ll be forced to retaliate!”

Orochi didn’t wait for her next words, nearly toppling Kagero and her stool with her embrace. Bending close to reach her ear, she whispered, “I love the portrait. I love all your art.” She planted a kiss to Kagero’s temple. “And I love you!”

Burning hot, Kagero cast about for any eavesdroppers lurking in the chamber’s shadows.

“You’re not embarrassed, are you? Nobody has to know.” She nuzzled closer to Kagero’s chest. “Though there is something exciting about the risk.”

“Orochi!”

“Ha, that got you, didn’t it?” With a victorious smirk she straightened away. “You’re too adorable when you’re flustered.”

Kagero gave a defeated sigh, and cast a long-suffering look to the Orochi in the painting, as if silently commiserating with her.

“I’m not too proud to admit when I’ve been bested,” Kagero said. “I concede this match.”

Before Orochi had a chance to gloat anymore—or reap the spoils of her reward—she felt the ground kick out from beneath her as Kagero seized her waist, dipping her like one of the heroes in those stories Lady Mikoto had so loved.

“Gah, don’t startle me like that!” She flailed for some sort of purchase before Kagero silenced her with her lips.

“Turnabout is fair play, is it not?” The ninja chuckled low, bringing their faces apart by a hairsbreadth. Orochi had looped her arms around Kagero’s neck during the kiss, and she clung now as Kagero’s bangs settled over her cheek.

“I confess, though,” she said. “As thrilling as you may find it, I’d much rather keep this all to myself.”


End file.
